How to spatchcock a chicken, and a recipe for honey-roasted Cornish game hen

Spatchcocking a chicken allows the bird to be flattened allowing the meat to cook more quickly and thoroughly. Don't be intimidated by the name, with this step-by-step guide you can easily master this kitchen skill and have your honey-glazed Cornish game hen roasting in no time.

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A spatchcocked game hen baked with honey and rotisserie seasonings.

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Spatchcocking a chicken really isn’t a difficult thing to do, and I think this recipe is advanced only because many people aren’t familiar with the technique. All it really takes is a pair of kitchen shears and a few minutes.

Start with a whole chicken on a cutting board. You don’t need to rinse it yet unless it is really nasty- because you will rinse it later.

You can do this with any type of bird, even a full size turkey, although like the difference between cutting paper with scissors, and cutting cardboard, the backbone of a turkey is a bit bigger and takes slightly more effort to cut through. But it is something that can be done in a few minutes while the bird is in your sink or basin being rinsed off.

Be sure to save the backbone (I collect bones in a freezer bag) to make chicken or turkey stock later with the addition of water, and a few aromatics, such as carrot, celery, onion, and bay or thyme. Simmer for a few hours to extract all the goodness, then strain out the solids for excellent homemade stock. You can use bones from roasted poultry, or use raw ones and bake them to get a deeper flavor when you make your stock, but it is not totally necessary. You will get good stock either way. It all depends how much time you want to invest.

This recipe is quite flexible. I've written it for one bird, increase spice mixture to accommodate extra birds.